?evating and sight-adjusting gear for ordnance.



' .ELEVATING AND (No Model.)

HQ". GRENFELL.

SIGHT ADJUSTING GEAR FOR ORDNANCE (Application filed July 15, 1901.

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T'atenteu FehflB, I952;

5 Sheets-Sheet N0. 693,702, Patented Feb. l8, I902.

' '35"; ll. GRENFELL.

'ELEVA'UNG AND, SIGHT ADJUSTING' GEAR FOB OBDNANCE.

H (Application filed July 15, 1901.) (N0 Modal.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2. I

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No. 693,702. Q Patented Feb. l8, I902.

H. H. GRENFELL.

GLEVATING AND SIGHT ADJUSTING GEAR FOB OBDNANGE,

(Application flied July 15, 1901.)

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Shoat 3.

No. 693,702. Patented Feb. !8, 1902.

- H. H. GRENFELL.

I .-.-E|.'"VAT|RG AND SIGHT ADJUSTiNG GEAR FOB oauwnucz.

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(No M'mB lQ- 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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"N0. 693,702. i Patented Feb. I8, I902.

' H. H. GRENFELL.

ELEVATING AND $iGHT ADJUSTING GEAR FOR OBDNANCE.

lApplicat ion med July 15, 1901.;

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UNITED STATES PA ENT Orricn.

IIUBERT H. GRENFELL, OF l-IANT S, ENGLAND.

-EVATING AN D SIGHT-ADJUSTING GEAR FOR ORD NANCE.

SIPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 693,702,date dFebruary 18, 1902.

Application filed July 15, 1901. Serial No. 68,396. iNo model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern:,

Be it known that I, HUBERT HENRY GREN- FELL, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain,

residing at Hants, England, have invented.

certain new and useful Improvements in Elevating and Sight-AdjustingGear for Oldnance, of which the following is a specification.

To insure the maximum of accuracy combined with rapidity in the fire ofnaval ordnance, the attention of the captain of the gun should beconcentrated on the soleduty of discharging it as soon as his sightscome in line with the object to be fired at. This being in itself adifficult and delicate task, demanding his undivided attention, anyimprovement in the direction of removingcauses likely to disturb thecaptain is of the utmost importance, and any arrangements by which theother duties he is at present charged with and which distract hisattention from his chief and all-important duty are removed tenddirectly to increase the accuracy and rapidity of his fire. With thearrangements heretofore in use in addition to firing his gun at thecorrect instant the captain of the gun has to alter his sights for everychange of range (and the range under modern conditions of high speed atsea is in a state of continuous change) and also to conduct both theelevating and training of his gun. These are three distinct and separateoperations, requiring'the working 'of three different hand-wheels inthree difierent places with one hand, the other hand having to be keptcontinuously on the firing-key, and since the captains eye should neverleave the sights he has to feel for the elevating and traininghand-Wheels. When, however, he is adjusting his sights his eye mustnecessarily be taken 0% the object, after which he has again to findhis'object and bring his gun to bear on it.

.Now bymy invention not only can the cap: tain or firer keep his eyecontinuously along the sights, but whatever alterations is being made inthe adjustment .for change of range the rear sight does not move fromhis eye, and thealinement is therefore not altered. Moreover, astheoperations for these changes are conducted by means ofmyimproved'gear independently of the firer it follows that he may keep-l's eye continuously along the sights while having one hand on thefiringkey and the other on the elevating-wheel, neither hand beingrequired to he moved from these positions.

,By my invention I provide gear for adjust-' ing the sights for range soconstructed and arranged that the said gear operates to turn the gunwith respect to the sights instead of, as heretofore, turning the sightswith respect to the gun, so that the'line of sight is notdisturbed whenmaking the change for range. This constitutes the chief feature of myinvention. Further, I combine with this rangegear the gear for elevatingand depressing the gun to bring the same to bear on the object to befired at. Although these gears are combined and both operate to elevateanddepress the gun, yet they work independently of each other and arecontrolled by separate hand-wheels, one of which is worked by thecaptain of the guns crew, who has his eye applied to the sights, andtheother of whichviz., that for effecting the adjustment for range--iswork ed by another member of the crew. The hand-wheels maybe worked si multaneously as well as at different times, and in the former case theyproduce on the gun an aggregate or differential effect according totheir direction of movement. The combination of the two gears is in somecases effected by a differential trainof wheels, whichconstitutesanotherimportant feature of my invention. The sight-bar ispivoted in some cases at the trunnion and in others not at the trunnion,and in the latter case the motion of the actuating-gear is transmittedto the sights by means of a sliding arc.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate various modes of carryingmy invention into practice, Figure is a side elevation of a portion of agun and 'of its mounting, show- Referring to Figsl and 2,A isthe gun. lis geared a worm it Jo, rings on the mounting. in said shaft is arrangeda dififerential gear, comprising a.

crossarm E, fixed on the shaft D and carryin" a pair of bevel-wheels FF, gearing with driving--wheels G H, attached toslce'res mounted looselyon the shaft. of the wheel G is mounted. a worm-wheel J, daptcd to belocked to said sleeve by a suitable friction device. To this worm-wheel.is I which is driven through wheels L and 5 ti hy ahand-Wheei N underthe control ol' he captain of the bringing the gun to hear on the object210 he fired at without altering the sights relatively to the gun; Onthe sleeve of the Wheel H is mounted a worm-wheel 0, adapted tobeloclzed to said sleeve by another friction device. P is a worm gearingwith the worm-wheel O and driven by a ll8.lld-Wll681 it under thecontrol of a member of the guus crew for adjusting the gun for range.The power of the hand-wheel gears above described may he arranged tosuit any requirements. I

S is a pinion fixed on the sleeve of the wheel G and gearing through anintermediate pinion U with a curved rack T, attached to the sight-bar V,which is pivoted on the trunnion W" of the gun or about the same axis asthe trunnion, the center of curvature'of the raclc'l being the center ofthe trunnion. The velocity ratio of the pinion S and rack T is the sameas that of the pinion C and elevating-arc B.

To elevate or depress the gun without altering the sight-bar relativelyto the gun, the captain turns his wheel N'in the required directiou,thus turning the corresponding driving-wheel G of the differential gear,which imparts a rotary motion to the radial bevel-- Wheels F F of saidgear. As the opposite driving-Wheel H of the differential gear ismeanwhile held fast by the worm. P, the driving-wheel G causes theradial wheels r to roll on the stationary wheel H, thus turning theelevating-shaft D, the angular motion imparted. to saidshaft beinghalfthat of the driving-rrheelGr and in the same direction.

The gun is thus elevated ordepressed, as the case may be. At the sametime by the pin ion S above described the urved rack T is elevated ordepressed withthegun, and the general result, therefore, is thatthe gunand eight are raised or lowered through the same angle without alteringthe adjustment "of the sight-bar'-t". 6., its relative position to theaxis of the gun.

To alter the adjustmentof the sights for an increase or decrease ofrange, the hand-wheel. R, controlling the driving-wheel H of thedifferential gear, is turned in the required direction and acorresponding motion is given to the elevating-pinion C, the radialwheels F Fin thisoase rolling on the drivingurheel G.

the sleeve This wheel G being held statonsry by" the worm iii, no motionis given to the curved rack'l, and consequently the gun turns,while thesight-bar remains stationary. It will be seen, therefore, that the veryimportant advantage is gained of adjusting the gun for any alteration ofrange without disturbing the line of sight-that is to say, if the sightwas prior to the change accurately on the object it will remain onduring the change and he found. on at its completion. Consequently theposition of the eye of the firer remains the same. during theadjustment.

To alter the adjustment of the sights fora 8o variation in the range andat the same time to alter the elevation of the gun to bring the same onthe object to he fired at, both hand- Wheels N and R are workedsimultaneously. The speed of both operations is entirely dependent onthe speed with which the wheels are-turned, and the motion of the gun isthe sum or re difference of the motions impart ed b 3 the separategears. No matter in which direction each wheel is being turned the powergo necessary for any given speed of adjustment is constant, the movementof one wheel having no effect onthe power necessary to move the other.Wit-h gearing heretofore in use in such a case-t', e., the range beingaltered 5 while the gun is being relaideithor the relaying has to bestopped for the adjustment of the sights and the gun relaid subsequentlyor the gun is laid, the sights adjusted, and then the gun is relaid.\Vith my new method rco of gearing the operation becomes a single one,and either motion may cease before the other without affecting thecompletion of the movement.

In the modification illustrated in Figs.3 and ithe sight-bar instead ofbeing pivoted on .tne trunnion is pivoted on a bar 20, carried by thegun-cradle, and its; curved rackT-gears with a pinion 1, carried by thecradle and fixed to turn with a pinion 2, which gears with a no curvedrack 3, mounted with a capability of sliding in a curved gui le 4, fixedto the cradle.

'l he center of curvat'u' ."e of the rack 3 and of its guide is thetrunnion of the cradle. 5 is another pinion geared to the rack 3 andfixed v to rotate with a worm-wheel 6, gearing Witha worm '7, fixed. ona shaft 8,;that is driven through a bevel-pinion 9 from bevel-teeth onthe back ofthe Wheel G of the dififerential train. thus con vcycd to theon rved rack 3 and thence to the sight-bar. The ratio of the radius ofthe elevating-arc B to that of the ele vat'lngpinion O is the same asthat of the curved rack 3150 its pinion 5 and also as that of the seg-v1 25 mental. rack T ou'the sight-bar to its pinion 2. Moreoveigthegearing is so proportioned; that the two pinions Zand 5 rotate at thesome speed as the elevating-pinion 0. When the adjustment is being madefor range, the wheel 1 0 G, as in the first arrangement describod,ziheld. stetionary,-and consequently the rack-3i is locked, while theguide 4 moves with the cradle. The pinion 2 also moves with the Themovements of the wheel G are r20.

cradle, and consequently rolls on the stationary rack 3, thereby turningthe sight-bar relatively to the gun-cradle through the same angle asthat through which the cradle moves, but in the opposite direction. Theangle of the sight-bartherefore remains constant during the change forrange. On the other hand, when the wheel G is rotated by the turning ofthe captains hand-wheel the gun-cradle and sight-bar turn in unison. I

The connection of the gear with the gun and sight-bar can be varied inmany ways, as illustrated, forexample,in the diagram inatic views, Figs.5 to 11.

In Fig. 5 the elevating-arc B is fixed to the mounting and the elevatingand sight-adjusting gear is carried by the cradle.

In Fig. 6 the elevating-arc B is fixed to the cradle, as in thefirst-described arrangement; but the shaft D of the elevating andsightadjusting gear is connected directly to the sight-bar, a'nd'thepinion S on the sleeve of the wheel G of the difierential train isgeared to a curved rack 10,fixed to the mounting.

Theprincipal cause of a slow rate of fire in large guns is found in theconstant relaying of-the gun, demanded by the conditions of modern navalwarfare, and the advantages are obvious of a system of gear by which thespeed of carrying out these frequent alterations in laying the gun islargely increased and whereby the radicalfaultof the firer havingfrequently to remove his eye from his sights is entirely obviated. As anexample, take the case of two ships passing at a high rate of speed.Assuming that the gun is loaded and laid on the extreme bow bearing,

as soon as the enemy comes into View from the gun the captain of the gunalines the sights and fires. If the ship is steady, he need not touchthe elevating-wheel again while the enemy is in View, although hissights are being constantly adjusted for change of distance. Similarly,if theship is rolling and the amplitude of her roll is approximatelyuniform his first alinement is again sufficient throughout the wholerun, and his whole attention can be devoted to firing his gun wheneverthe sights roll onor come in line with the object. It is evident thatthis is the only way to attain a maximum of accuracy and rapidity offire.

What I claim isa 1. The combination with a gun and its mounting ofpivoted sights, elevating-gear controlling said sights and gun together,other elevating-gear controlling the gun alone, an J epicyclic trainconnecting these two gears,and

means for actuating said train from either end, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination with a gun and its. mounting of pivoted sights, twosets of gears for controlling the elevation of the gun and sights,hand-wheels for actuating said gears,

ated from either end alone, or from both ends simultaneously,substantially as described.

In'testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing wit- I nesses.

1 H. H. GRENFELL. Witnesses;

GEO. HARRISON,

ALEXANDER W. ALLEN.

